Capítulo VI Del Prevaricato
E SCRITO OPONIÉNDOSE A PRISIÓN PREVENTIVA
Rob Devey Chief Executive
Prudential UK and Europe
2011 2012
+2%
£736m £723m
Total IFRS operating profit
B u sin ess uni t r evi ew B usi n ess r ev ie w Market overview
The life and pensions market in the UK is mature and highly regulated. Signifi cant regulatory change occurred in 2012 with the implementation of the conclusions of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), auto-enrolment for company pension schemes and gender neutral pricing. These new regulations represent major changes to the way business is conducted in a number of areas of the markets in which we operate in the UK, and impact not only insurance and investments providers, but also distributors and consumers. It is inevitable that regulatory change of this scale and scope creates a period of uncertainty before the shape of the new long-term competitive landscape becomes evident.
The UK market is also characterised by an ageing population and a concentration of wealth in the 50+ age group, many of whom have built up substantial pension funds in employer-sponsored schemes. These customers require help to convert their wealth into sustainable lifetime income. For the next generation of savers, the responsibility for retirement provision has shifted substantially away from government and employers towards the individual. These customers are typically under-funded for retirement and helping them accumulate saving constitutes a signifi cant opportunity for long-term savings and retirement income providers, at a time when the ability of the state to intervene is signifi cantly diminished.
Prudential UK’s longevity experience, multi-asset investment capabilities, long-standing trusted brand and fi nancial strength mean that we are favourably positioned to help consumers translate their accumulated wealth into dependable retirement income through our range of market leading with-profi ts and annuity products.
We do so by focusing on those areas of the market where we are able to bring superior value to our customers and where we enjoy a competitive advantage. The performance of our with-profi ts fund in 2012 has allowed us to declare bonuses which mean that our policyholders should see year-on-year increases of between 3.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent in accumulating with-profi ts policy values and our total bonus payments are expected to top £2.0 billion in 2013.
Our ability to deliver value to our customers and the resulting market franchise allowed us to achieve higher new business profi tability in 2012, as well as increasing cash generation and preserving our strong capital position, despite the challenging economic environment and competitive conditions that prevailed in the UK marketplace.
Business performance
Prudential UK has a well-established individual annuity business, built on a robust pipeline of internal vestings from maturing pension policy customers. The internal vestings pipeline is supplemented by sales through intermediaries and strategic partnerships with third parties where Prudential is the offered annuity provider for customers vesting their pensions at retirement.
Total APE sales for 2012 were £836 million (2011: £746 million) of which sales of individual annuities of APE £241 million were 35 per cent higher than in 2011.
Annuity sales from internal vestings of £146 million were 20 per cent higher than 2011, due to a combination of several factors – a higher number of customers retiring, higher average fund values and increased client contact activity. Sales of external annuities of APE £95 million were 67 per cent higher in 2012 refl ecting an increase in demand for our with-profi ts Income Choice Annuity which offers customers income security with the potential for income growth.
In the wholesale market, we aim to continue our selective participation approach to bulk and back-book buyouts using our fi nancial strength, superior investment track record, annuitant mortality risk assessment and servicing capabilities. In line with this opportunistic approach, two bulk annuity buy-in insurance agreements were signed in 2012 totalling APE £41 million (2011: single deal APE £33 million). We will continue to maintain our focus on value and only participate in transactions that meet our return on capital and payback requirements.
Our direct advice service, Prudential Financial Planning (PFP), was launched in December 2011 and grew to 129 advisers in 2012, generating APE sales of £21 million. PFP offers a complete fi nancial planning service, focused primarily on our existing direct customer base. The response from our customers has been very encouraging and we intend to continue to grow this channel to 200 advisers by the end of 2013.
The combined fi nancial strength and investment performance track record of Prudential’s UK With-Profi ts Fund continues to provide a key source of non-price differentiation in a competitive market. Our with-profi ts customers benefi t from the security of Prudential’s large inherited estate, which was valued at £7 billion at the year end, and provides a high degree of protection against adverse market movements. The Fund continues to provide customers with solid returns and to outperform the FTSE All-Share Index over medium to long-term horizons. Over the last 15 years, the Fund has delivered a cumulative investment return of 184.3 per cent on investments covering policyholder liabilities. This compares favourably with other with-profi ts funds and the FTSE All-Share Index total return of 106.5 per cent over the same period, and, by offering customers a smoothed return, helps provide protection from the full impact of volatile market conditions. This performance shows that investing in a strong with-profi ts fund can produce good returns for cautious investors, in spite of the combined pressures of volatile market conditions and UK interest rates remaining at historically low levels. Retention and management of our customer base of approximately seven million remains a key focus for the business. We aim to maintain loyalty by continuing to improve our service year-on-year for both customers and intermediaries. Prudential UK’s focus on continuing to deliver excellent customer service was recognised at the 2012 Financial Adviser Service Awards, where we retained our two 5-Star ratings in the Life & Pensions and Investment categories.
Onshore bonds sales of APE £228 million were up 28 per cent on 2011, including with-profi ts bond sales of APE £214 million, which increased by 34 per cent. Our PruFund range made up 75 per cent of with-profi ts bond sales, with 35 per cent higher sales than in 2011. PruFund continues to be popular with consumers, providing smoothed returns and a range of optional guarantees, which offer a degree of security against potential market falls in a post-crisis environment where investors have become much more risk-averse. Although the demand for guarantees remains high, the increase in PruFund sales is based entirely on the non-guaranteed version of the product, which is attractive to those customers who are prepared to accept some risk to their capital but still want to benefi t from the smoothing offered by a with-profi t product.
The RDR, one of a number of current reforms to the UK regulatory framework, was implemented on 31 December 2012. It means that fi nancial advisers can no longer be paid commissions for recommending investment products. This is likely to lead to some short-term disruption in the market as consumers adjust to paying fees for advice and adviser fi rms adapt their business models for the new rules. We have seen an increase in sales of with-profi t bonds in 2012 and, while we have prepared our business for the post-RDR regulatory environment, we expect this transition phase to have a negative impact on our sales of investment bonds in 2013.
Corporate pensions sales of APE £189 million were 19 per cent lower than the previous year. Sales in 2011 were particularly high due to new defi ned contribution members joining our schemes following closure of a number of defi ned benefi t schemes operated by existing clients. We continue to focus on securing new members and incremental business from our current portfolio of corporate pensions customers rather than acquiring new corporate pensions schemes where market pricing is currently unattractive. Prudential UK remains the largest provider of additional voluntary contribution plans within the public sector, where we now provide schemes for 68 of the 99 public sector authorities in the UK. Sales of other products, principally individual pensions, PruProtect, PruHealth and offshore bonds of £137 million were 12 per cent higher than in 2011. Individual pensions APE sales (including income drawdown) of £80 million were 11 per cent higher, refl ecting increased demand for our Flexible Retirement Plan among advisers and their clients.
Insurance operations continued
B u sin ess uni t r evi ew B usi n ess r ev ie w
Prudential UK writes with-profi ts annuity, with-profi ts bond and with-profi ts corporate and individual pensions business in its Life Fund, with other products backed by shareholder capital. For shareholder-backed business written in 2012, the weighted average post-tax internal rate of return (IRR) on the shareholder capital allocated to new business was in excess of 20 per cent and the undiscounted payback period on that new business was three years.
Operating free surplus generated from the long-term in-force business in the UK amounted to £507 million (2011: £503 million). Of this total, £45 million (2011: £54 million) was reinvested in writing shareholder-backed business at attractive average IRRs. During 2012 Prudential UK remitted cash of £313 million to the Group (2011: £297 million), comprising £216 million (2011: £223 million) from the annual with-profi ts transfer to shareholders and £97 million (2011: £74 million) from the shareholder-backed business. The business expects to generate £350 million per annum of sustainable cash remittances by 2013, supported by the strength of the with-profi ts business and surpluses arising from the large book of shareholder-backed annuities, maintained into the future by the pipeline of maturing individual and corporate pensions.
Rob Devey Chief Executive
Prudential UK and Europe Financial performance
Total APE sales of £836 million were 12 per cent higher than 2011, principally due to increased sales of individual annuities and with-profi ts bonds, partly offset by lower sales of corporate pensions. Retail APE sales of £795 million were up 12 per cent on the previous year (2011: £712 million). Although the lower level of interest rates in 2012 had a negative impact on retail new business profi tability, this was more than offset by the positive mix effect from growth in higher margin products such as individual annuities and with-profi ts bonds.
New business profi t increased by 20 per cent to £313 million (2011: £260 million), including bulk annuity transactions. Retail new business profi t at £274 million was 19 per cent above 2011 (2011: £231 million), primarily driven by increased volumes in higher margin product areas.
IFRS life operating profi t was higher than in 2011 at £736 million (2011: £723 million), with £272 million (2011: £293 million) from with-profi ts and the balance from shareholder-backed business. Commission received on Prudential-branded General Insurance products contributed £33 million to IFRS operating profi t in 2012, £7 million lower than in 2011 as the book of business originally transferred to Churchill in 2002 is, as expected, decreasing in size. At half year 2010 we announced that the business had
achieved its cost savings target of £195 million per annum. At the end of 2010, an additional series of initiatives to reduce costs by a further £75 million per annum by the end of 2013 was announced. By 31 December 2012 these additional annual cost savings of £75 million per annum had also been achieved, one year earlier than planned.
EEV total operating profi t of £899 million was 1 per cent higher than in 2011, refl ecting higher new business profi ts, partly offset by lower in-force profi ts which were impacted by the lower level of interest rates in the period. EEV profi t also included a contribution of £87 million from a change in the long-term tax rate assumption (including future tax rate changes which take effect in April 2013) from 25 per cent to 23 per cent, compared with £79 million from the 2 per cent tax rate reduction in 2011.